8b
On the Verge of the Weekend
friday.12.4.1998
Shakespeare meets ‘Grease’
‘Twelfth Night’ twists pompadours and saddle shoes with Shakespeare’s wit
by alice hosty
Associate Verge editor
Break out the Dippity-Do gel
and throw on your bobby socks
for a production of Shakespeare’s
“Twelfth Night,” Franky and
Annette beach party style.
The University Theater will
kick off their saddle shoe, and the
holiday season with their version
of “Twelfth Night,” a contemporary comedy adaptation set in
the late ‘50s and early ‘60s.
“Characters will be dressed in
poodle skirts, leather jackets,
that type of thing,” said J. Sain,
business manager of the Theater
Department.
More than a dozen cast members will laugh you though a number of twisted plot turns in this
popular Shakespearian comedy
written in 1601.
“We haven’t done Shakespeare
in the four years I’ve been here,”
said Maureen Raftery, who plays
the lead of Viola. “I think the
directors wanted to try something
different with the late ‘50s setting
to bring the show a lot of life.”
Over the course of the play
several love triangles emerge,
along with an intriguing sub-plot
involving a pompous butler and a
disgruntled maid.
“My character is the royal
daughter of a count who has
recently lost her family,” said
Caren Evers, who plays the
leading role of Olivia. “As a result,
she has sworn off all men.
Unfortunately, all the men in the
town are in love with her.”
That includes Raftery’s crossdressing character, Viola, who
Olivia inadvertently falls in love
with.
“For most of the play I’m
dressed as a greaser,” Raftery
said. “All the characters are also
dressed (in ‘50s garb), and there’s
great music from that time period
like the Beach Boys.”
“This is a great comedy that
should draw in just about everyone,” said “Twelfth Night” director
Jean Wolski. “It’s a fun way to end
the semester on a positive note.”
The play will be presented at 7
p.m. from Friday Dec. 4 through
Saturday Dec. 12 with no preformance Dec. 7 and 2 p.m. on
Sunday Dec. 6 at the Duodna Fine
Arts Center. Tickets for the show
are $3.50 with a student ID, $8
for regular admission and $6 for
senior citizens and faculty members.
Photo by Deanna McIntyre / Photo editor
Viola (Maureen Raftery) and Olivia (Caren Evers) talk outside a park in the twisted 1950s version of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.” Olivia swears off men, but
she inadvertently falls in love with the cross-dressing Viola.
Watercolor exhibit celebrates Illinois artists
Ten awards to be presented at reception for winners of drawing/watercolor contest
bylauren kraft and erica plys
Staff writers
The only display of Drawing/Watercolor:
Illinois, a competitive exhibition open to
artists who live in Illinois, will display watercolor mastery at the Tarble Arts Center
beginning this Saturday.
A reception will be held from 2 to 4 p.m.
Saturday to honor these art wonders based
on the decision of biennial’s juror James
Yood, associate professor for the School of
the Art Institute of Chicago, who will not
be in attendance. However, most of the
artists will be.
“We have some current EIU students,”
said Michael Watts, director of Table Arts
Center. “We also have some people who
have been entering for 30 years.”
The artists were allowed to enter more
than one piece of work using water-based
media or drawing media on paper.
“There are quite a few landscape and florals, but there are also other subject matter,” Watts said.
This exhibition allows Illinois residents
to not only display their talents and express
themselves through art, but also compete
against other artists.
“At the core this exhibition celebrates
what it means that people – artists – would
lug their work to Charleston, would confront the possibility of rejection and dismissal,” Yood said a in a press release.
“That strikes me as the most evocative element of this exercise, more important than
catalog, the prizes, maybe even more
important than the exhibition itself.
“It’s a great reminder that art still matters,
and will always be a central form of human
communication.”
Out of 219 entries and 98 artists there
will be 60 works displayed. Ten awards will
be presented at the reception.
The Newton E. Tarble Memorial Best-ofShow Purchase Award was given to Jeffrey
A. Little from Bloomington for his watercolor “Cornet.” Both “Cornet” and “Long
to Be an Animal,” a mixed media piece by
Carla Lobmier of Newton that was selected to receive the Ronchetti Acquisition
Fund Drawing Purchase Award, will be
added to the permanent collection at
Tarble Arts.
All awards are monetary, Watts said.
The money is granted by businesses, organizations and private persons including the
Eastern Illinois Alumni Association, Coles
County Arts Council, What’s Cookin’ and
Roc’s Blackfront.
Watts, exhibitor director, said he chose
Yood as the judge because “he looks at
each individual work for its individual merit,
not for a particular style or approach.”
“I tried to be cognizant of a range of
artistic approaches, and looked for work
that was both technically accomplished and
conceptually intriguing” Yood said in a press
release. “I found it, played out in sometimes
surprising and incredibly diverse ways.”
Yood’s other jobs include Assistant
Chairperson of Art Theory and Practice at
Northwestern University and a continuing
editor for the New Art Examiner.
Drawing/Watercolor: Illinois is sponsored by the Tarble Arts Center, its membership contributions and the Illinois Arts
Council, a state agency.
This exhibition will run from Dec.5
through Jan. 17 at the Tarble Arts Center,
located on South 9th St. at Cleveland
Avenue. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tuesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on
Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
The Tarble Arts Center is closed on
Mondays and from Dec. 24 to Jan. 4. Call
581-2787 to request a group tour.